Croteam’s been busy lately.

It’s almost time for the 10-year anniversary of one of the most pure shooting action series ever, and there’s no better way to celebrate than to retool the originals to modern graphic standards.  Majesco and CDV Software announced today that they’ve got a remake of Serious Sam: The First Encounter coming to XBLA this summer, with the nearly meaningless title of Serious Sam HD.

Serious Sam HD will relaunch the Serious Sam series using Croteam’s new Serious Engine 3, making it look, in technical terms, awful purty.  Other than that this is looking to be a straight port, although that could be subject to change due to the scarcity of information outside of “this game exists” that’s been released so far.  The only solid detail is the four-player co-op multiplayer.

Serious Sam HD hits at an unspecified point this summer for XBLA and later this fall for PC.  It seems that Serious Sam: The Second Encounter will be getting an upgrade as well relatively soon-ish after that, although details on its release are still sketchy.

One thing worth clarifying, though, is the development path.  CDV is co-publishing the PC version and Majesco the XBLA one, both in conjunction with Devolver Digital, and Croteam is developing the game in-house.  So if you don’t love Serious Sam HD you’re disappointing a whole lot of people who only care about the well-deserved revival of the most monster-filled and adrenaline-pumping arcade FPS ever made.

Get ready for the next battle on Oct. 27th!

In a move that will surely enduce some envy to the Madcatz Fightstick-loving crowd, the contents of the Tekken 6 Limited Edition bundle for PS3 and Xbox 360 is finally revealed! An artbook is included in the package, but the real star of the LE is Hori’s new wireless limited edition arcade stick! This came as a huge surprise to me as I thought Hori will release their sticks in their Real Arcade Pro or Fighting Stick/EX2-styled cases till the end of time.

Look for Tekken 6 on store shelves on October 27th. Customers who reserved the game at Gamestop will also receive a Tekken 6 desk calendar and the Samurai Pack bonus DLC which includes special nobori (japanese war flags) as universal items for each character and a special costume for Yoshimitsu inspired by Penny-Arcade’s Cardboard Tube Samurai character.

Source: SDTEKKEN.com

An FPS on the Wii and Tyson vs. Ali.

(All games are shipping on Tuesday, June 23, unless otherwise noted. Your local store may not receive the game until the following day or later.)

The eagerly awaited first-person shooter, The Conduit is shipping on Tuesday, at long last, and only for the Wii. The Wiimote was pretty much made for headshots, so what’s taken so long? Yeah, it’s another space-alien/government conspiracy game, but developers High Voltage are showing off some pretty promising gameplay.

Another big Wii exclusive this week is Overlord: Dark Legend, which is a prequel to the first Overlord and distinct from the other Overlord games coming out this week. It was, of course, developed from the ground-up for everyone’s second-favorite waggle stick. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are getting Overlord II, which as we’ve already read, is all about rampaging, pillaging, and various other nasty gerunds. Never one to be excluded, the DS is offering the puzzle-action game Overlord: Minions.

Commanding armies of the damned not doing it for you? The Transformers are appearing on even more platforms than the minions this week. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is coming to the Wii, 360, PS3, PC, and PSP. It allows you to play on the side of either the Autobots or the dread Decepticons. Showing either system limitations or marketing genius, the DS has an Autobots version and a Decepticons version. Yes, separate purchases.

The DS also has Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, an entry level strategy RPG with strong story elements. The PSP is shooting back with a massive RPG of its own, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (June 22), that lets you capture monsters with your friends.

Probably the biggest release, however, is Fight Night Round 4, which promises a revamped engine with deeper gameplay than ever before. Considering Round 3 was so good, that’s pretty exciting. You can even put your own lovely mug in the game using a PC or console camera. Round 4 is shipping for the 360 and PS3.

Beyond that we have Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, the latest historically influenced Koei beat-’em-up; a Wii version of the GameCube version of the PlayStation game, Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil; and a PlayStation 2 bundle containing two PSP Grand Theft Auto games, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories.

Not a bad week, no matter what you like. Well, maybe a 2D Overlord fighting game would have made it complete.

Time to get hype!

If you haven’t already heard, uStream.tv is hosting live three-day coverage of Devastation 2009. This is one of the longest, most successful video game shows on the net featuring live coverage about Professional Gaming. Enjoy color commentary by Marcus “djWheat” Grahamand Scott “SirScoots” Smith who will be actively keeping viewers entertained with all the player interviews, special guests and exhibition matches that will be taking place at this intense event. Devastation 2009 will also be blessed by the presence of Justin Wong, Ari Weintraub, Ryan “gootecks” Gutierrez, Mike Ross, Ricky Ortiz, Mike Watson and several other top players!

Expect to see coverage of every tournament hosted game including Guilty Gear Accent Core, Guitar Hero: World Tour, SF3: Third Strike, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, KOF XII, SSF2 Turbo HD Remix and naturally SFIV will be in full effect. You’ll probably want to start stocking up on the snacks because this is one broadcast you won’t want to miss a second of.

Tekken 6, Marvel vs Capcom 2 and SF3: Third Strike kicks off today and SFIV will be running tomorrow.

Gogogo!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/djwheat.

Set pilot to “auto” in NSMB Wii

Cheating will always be around. Be it the famous Konami code, various cheat peripherals, or even strategy guides, but Nintendo is upping the ante with its upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii release set for later this year. According to a confirmation in USA Today, Miyamoto is launching a feature called “demo play” that will automatically complete areas that you have difficulty with.

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